Tag: Nail Polish

I feel like I picked up these Maybelline Color Show nail polishes whilst they were on offer, but I can’t remember – that’s really bad isn’t it?! Anyway, I tried them each out, one a week, and wanted to share my thoughts on them.

Broadway Blues

This is the main shade I wanted to get. I don’t have anything like this blue and was craving it in my collection so I picked it up. It’s a cream finish and goes on really smoothly. It’s pretty opaque too, needing only a couple of coats to get full colour and an even application. Wear time was around 4-5 days before noticeable chipping but it started wearing at the tips by day 3.

Nebline

I have a few pale pinks in my collection but all of them are quite sheer, needing several coats and I wanted to see if this one was any better. This took 3 thin coats and the colour actually shows up quite a bit brighter on the nails than that bottle would have you believe. More of a pale barbie pink than the just-off-white pinky tint I was hoping for. Nevertheless it was still a pretty, girly colour to wear and it lasted a good 5 days before I even noticed wearing at the tips so big thumbs up on that front.

Teal Reveal

I picked this one up thinking it would be really pretty and give a mermaid kind of vibe. Unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment as the glitter is really sparse. I used 3 coats of this to get some kind of a glitter effect, which was time consuming and I’m sure it will be annoying to try and remove all those layers of glitter. Despite all that it is very pretty, a mix of lime green/yellow and turquoise matte glitter with tiny gold shimmery glitter flecked throughout, so if you wanted a more subtle glitter effect this might be ideal.

Overall I do like the Maybelline Color Show polishes in general, the brush is a little smaller than I prefer but it still works well, gives great control and wear time is generally on par with most other brands. For £2.99 each you can’t really go wrong and this range has a variety of finishes and effects so you should be able to find something you like.

I recently picked up a couple of the new Speedy Nail paints from Barry M. All the colours are gorgeous so I had trouble narrowing it down, but in the end I went for these two.

Eat My Dust is a light periwinkle blue, perfect for the Spring. In A Heart Beat is a bright corally pink which will look amazing in the summer with a tan. Both colours go on quite sheer and streaky to begin with but a second coat evens everything out. In the pictures I’ve done 2 coats plus my Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat. By the second coat the colour is completely opaque, glossy on it’s own without the need of a top coat and they do dry very quickly, especially if you use thin coats. It’s not quite as fast drying as my Seche Vite – I feel like although it was dry to the touch a lot faster than most other nail polishes, it’s didn’t have that hard-as-glass effect that I get from the Seche Vite and since I was going to bed immediately after painting my nails I didn’t want them to smudge.

The application is very smooth and I love the size and shape of the brush. This has to be the best brush I have ever used! It’s not too big or small, and the shape fits perfectly around the cuticle to give a really neat line. I think it’s the tidiest manicure I’ve ever done! It really was a quick and easy experience.

I’m really impressed with this line and need to pick some more up stat! What’s your favourite nail polish at the moment?

Available at Superdrug for £3.99 each (currently on offer – 2 for £6)

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Whilst perusing the shelves in Superdrug looking for items for a box swap (video coming soon!) I saw this new-season nail polish from Barry M in Vintage Violet and had to pick it up. Purple is my favourite colour and this deeper, muted version is the perfect shade for this season. It has a hint of grey in it so it’s not uber bright but adds a pop of colour whilst still being relatively neutral.

The formula is perfect – not to thick or thin so it doesn’t gloop onto the nails but also doesn’t apply streaky. Two coats is all you need to get an opaque, glossy finish, although if you want to give it some lasting power you may want to add a top coat.

There are 2 other shades in this mini Autumn collection – Ballerina is a soft baby pink (just what you would expect from the name), and Nightshade, a much deeper, blackened plus shade. The perfect trio if you ask me!

I picked this up in a recent haul and it was so pretty that I had to try it out straight away. It’s a very sheer blue base with a gorgeous fine golden pink shimmer running through it. When applied over other nail polish colours the blue doesn’t show through but the shimmer really shines. My favourite way to wear this is over darker nail polishes, which tend to be out in force around this time of year.

This actually reminds me a lot of an old nail polish from Seventeen in Cosmic Heather that’s no longer available. It’s a similar kind of thing only the base of the Seventeen one is purple and that looks very pretty just on its own as a sheer wash of colour. I haven’t tired wearing Fairy Dust (love that name!) on its own yet but that will be the next thing I try. This also looks pretty over brighter colours to add a little bit of sparkle so it’s great year round no matter what colour you have on your nails. By the way, this is so easy to apply, doesn’t streak and the best part is it’s only £1.50!! What’s not to love?! I’ll definitely be checking out more nail polishes from this line as I am so impressed with this one.

Have you tried any Work The Colour polishes? What did you think?

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It’s been the longest time since I painted my nails but I’ve been stuck at home this week with a pulled chest muscle.. Not fun but it did give me time to pretty up my finger tips. The weather’s been getting a little cooler this month so I decided to go for a slightly darker colour. This is OPI’s Dutch Ya Just Love OPI with China’s Luxe and Lush over the ring finger.

And just for the fun of it here’s a FOTD – it’s a sneak peek from an upcoming video and blogpost on the MUA Undressed palette that I’ve been working on.

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I’m bringing a little bit of summer to my nails with this bright polish from Models Own. To be honest it’s not really a colour I would typically go for and although I like it, I think it would look much better with a tan.

I picked this up along with the Speckled Egg collection (NOTD post on those here, and video here) whilst Models Own had a 6 for £20 deal going on.

The colour is called Golden Peach and it’s a beautiful coral orange with fine golden shimmer running throughout it which gives it this gorgeous sheen. I used 2 coats to give me this full opacity of colour and the brush was easy to use.

I definitely want to expand my Models Own collection so if you have any recommendations of shades I should pick up then let me know in a comment!

I love this manicure for Spring. It’s nude but peachy, and the Aurora Space Dust nail polish on the ring fingers just gives a little bit of sparkle. Sally Hansen’s Complete Salon Manicure in Peachy Keen is a little on the streaky side, this here is 2 coats and you can still make out my nail tips. I think 3 coats would even things out nicely but we all know I don’t want painting my nails to take me forever so I just stuck with 2! I’ve been loving the textured nail polishes and these Space Dusts from Rimmel are great for only £3.99. The Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes are a little more expensive at £6.99 but you do get more product.

Around this time last year I bought a few Barry M nail polishes and created an Easter inspired manicure that looked a little bit like mini eggs.

This year Models Own have brought out a Speckled Egg nail polish collection which comprises of 5 Spring shades each with different sized matte black glitter. This gives a similar effect as my mini egg creation so of course I had to pick them up and try them out!!

The formula on these is great – opaque in 2 coats and they all have a lovely glossy finish. The colours are as follows:

Dove – baby pink

Magpie – bright mint green

Swan – soft grey toned purple

Duck – baby blue

Goose – baby yellow

I think this is such a cute manicure to wear with Easter coming up. I’m not sure if I would wear any one of these on all of my nails but I like the look of each nail being a different colour, and I think it would look nice as an accent nail as well. My favourites are Swan and Duck!

Models Own have an offer on where you can buy 6 polishes for £20 so you’re basically getting 2 polishes for free. I’ve also heard that Superdrug have a similar deal on where you buy 3 polishes but only pay for 2. Models Own nail polishes are normally £5 each.

If you like the look of this but don’t want to have to buy new nail polishes, check out the video below. I’ll talk you through how to get a similar effect with any other polishes you already have. As long as you have a black nail polish and an old toothbrush you can create this look yourself!

I haven’t tried a whole lot from the brand MUA. I picked up a few makeup items towards the end of last year and was really impressed with them – if you’re interested you can watch my first impressions video here. Just recently I have been on the hunt for a pale mint green nail polish and rather than fork out £7.99 for Essie’s Mint Candy Apple that everyone and their sister seems to rave about, I decided to pick up this one from MUA.

The colour is called Pistachio Ice Cream and although it’s not quite as bright as the Essie one it’s a really close dupe. The bottle, as I’m sure you will notice, is extremely similar to Essie’s, even down to the brand name embossed into the glass. The MUA one is a little smaller though and I have a side by side picture so you can see the difference/similarities.

So as for the polish itself…. I have to say I didn’t love it straight away. First things first, the brush is VERY small – similar in size to something you would get with a miniature nail polish. I found I have to re-dip the brush in the polish and use several smaller strokes to coat each nail. Secondly, the formula is quite thin and very streaky, particularly if you like to apply thin coats. This is all starting to sound rather negative but… when I applied the second coat I went in slightly thicker as I didn’t want to sit painting my nails all night to get an opaque finish. This second coat really evened out the colour and left a beautiful, shiny cream finish. If you look closely you can still see a little bit of streakiness but it’s barely noticeable.

On the whole I am once again really impressed with MUA and will be looking to pick up more polishes and makeup from them in the future. Let me know if there’s anything you think I should try. MUA polishes are available at Superdrug for £1.

It feels like Spring may have sprung already! The weather is gorgeous today so I though I would break out my white crackle effect nail polish for a light and bright Spring manicure.

This is Barry M’s Peach Melba, which is such a gorgeous cream finish peach colour, as you would imagine, but unfortunately the formula is very thin and streaky. I think you would need 4 or 5 coats to make this completely opaque and even, and I just don’t have the patience for that! Which is a shame as it is such a lovely colour, particularly for this time of year.

To try and cover up the streakiness I applied a coat of Barry M’s white Crackle Effect polish over the top and it looks lovely and bright and fresh. I’m really enjoying my Barry M nail polishes at the moment since most of the colours I have from that brand are very appropriate for this time of year.

If you want to see an Easter inspired tutorial using more Barry M polishes you can check out the video below!

Barry M nail polishes are available in Boots and Superdrug for a very affordable £2.99